950th. Maintence Company, 63rd. Regional Support Command in Los Alamitos, CA.
I will explain how my Maintence Company was organized, and perhaps it will explain how and why the drivers side had several conflicting bumper markings.
I had the honor of assembling a Maintenance Company from scratch, in 1986, here in Germany. We sat down and broke the company down into several platoons. The first Platoon was the Headquarters Platoon. Their trucks had bumper numbers that started with HQ. The HQ platoon consisted of the Orderly Room, ( paper pushers that are needed to run the company, the Arms Room, ( the folks that took care of our weapons) the Supply Room, (the folks who kept the company supplied with beans to bullets) the Medic, First Sergeant, Company Commander, Excutive Officer, (XO, a 1st LT and Platoon Leader) Platoon Sergeant, Mail Room Clerk, (normally this was an additional duty) the Motor Pool and other assorted ash and trash. Totaled maybe 30 people.
My Direct Support Platoon, bumper numbers started with DS. These were my thugs. The guys who fixed trucks and anything with wheels. Everything from F&E, (Fuel and Electric) Shop, Wheel Vehicle Shop, Track Shop and Shop Office, (paper pushers who control the maintenance flow, Commo and Comsec Repair Shop and Small Arms Repair Shop. The platoon consisted of a Shop Officer, (normally a 1st LT, in our case a Chief Warrant Officer, also the Platoon Leader) a maintenance NCOIC, (Non Commissioned Officer In Charge) Recovery Section and assorted ash and trash. Totaled about 40-50 people.
The Tech Supply platoon. Bumper numbers start with TS. This was the people who ordered, kept track of, issued, received, transported, classified and disposed of everything the company and supported units, (or units) needed to maintain operational readiness. The platoon consisted of a Chief Warrant Officer, (In charge of running the logistics operation) a NCOIC, 8 clerks, a forklift operator, 10 Truck Drivers, (88M?) and other assorted ash and trash. Totaled 25-30 people.
The company totaled about 110 people. Just about every DS Maintenance Company is different then the next. Both in makeup and personal. The supported unit, (or units) drive that train. Some are area support units, and have a large amount of supported units. Such a company could total over 300 people. Or have just one supported unit, (a Patriot Battalion) like mine. So if a truck had been assigned to several different platoons over the years, the bumper numbers would have been changed at least several times. The reason the bumper numbers are connected to the platoons is simple. It's easyer to ID the vehicle, when someone is doing something stupid. The left side give you the major command, the battalion, (or regiment) and the right side the platoon. The numbers after the platoon marking tell you who is supposed to be in the vehicle. No mater what unit, when you see HQ6, that the commanding officers vehicle of that unit. Just like every call sign of every unit is the number 6. Unit commanders choose a "handle, or name, and follow it with the number 6. Like, Lightning 6, or Ranger 6. All the major players in a unit have an assigned number.
